Ephesus

Ephesus was a truly exceptional
city by almost any measure. The very name 'Ephesos' means 'desirable'. It had a
harbor and road system that made it the most accessible city in Asia. The
climate was exceptionally fine and the soil was exceptionally fertile. Under
Roman rule it shared governance of Asia with Pergamos and although Pergamos was
theoretically the true center of power the natural advantages of Ephesus tended
to make it the greater city. However, despite its' geographical, geological,
political, social and climatic advantages the true strength of Ephesus lay in
its' religion. It was the home of the Temple of Diana; one of the eight wonders
of the world.

In addition to the exceptional
nature of its' secular heritage Ephesus appears to have been the place where
Paul chose to focus the largest single portion of his ministry. He labored there
longer than any other and he appears to go to some length to communicate with
the people there; even summoning the elders when passing nearby. In later years
other key church leaders and most notably John appear to have felt Ephesus was
the place where they should focus their efforts.

In order to fully understand the
nature of Paul's ministry at Ephesus we need to have some understanding of the
conditions he labored under their and the people he labored to and with. The aim
of this paper is therefore to dig a little into the nature of Ephesus in and
around the time that Paul labored there in the middle of the first century AD.
My primary resource is the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia although I
shall also dig into Albert Barnes and the American Tract Society Dictionary when
appropriate.

One other point to note for
anyone embarking upon an understanding of Ephesus is that some of the earlier
worthies formed an opinion of it that was based upon an incomplete or erroneous
understanding of some of the changes in the region. In particular Albert Barnes
comments that Ephesus did not have the commercial advantages of a place such as
Smyrna which result in it languishing into disrepair. In fact older sources
focus heavily upon the meager state to which the city had fallen by the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The fact is that Ephesus had had a
magnificent deep water harbor; however it was an artificial harbor formed by
dredging. As time progressed the Ephesians stopped dredging and the harbor
silted up. This effectively destroyed one of Ephesus' two major commercial
advantages.

The other primary commercial
advantage of Ephesus was also destroyed by a slow process of attrition but on
this occasion it was almost certainly Christianity rather than sand that led to
the cities demise. Ancient Ephesus was built upon the cult and temple of Diana,
sometimes called Artemis. This magnificent wonder dominated the skyline and was
one of the principle financial cornerstones that made the city great. It was
also the home of a licentious pagan religion and as such it was entirely
incompatible with the Christian faith that blossomed in Ephesus. Praise Be to
God that Christianity won. When the temple burned to the ground for the seventh
time in 262AD no-one cared enough to have it rebuilt. By 341AD Ephesus had
become the home of a Christian council.

Notwithstanding its' eventual
demise the Temple that Paul approached and near which the addressees of
Ephesians dwelt was formidable structure. Its' predecessor had been burnt on the
night when Alexander the Great was born in 356BC. He offered to replace it but
the Ephesians chose to do so themselves. In total it took 220 years to build
with assistance from many of the Greek states. The result was a building some
425ft by 220ft and 60 feet in height and containing 127 pillars.

However it was not just the
direct physical presence of the Temple itself that made it formidable. It was
also believed to be an incredibly sturdy building; so much so that the vaults of
it were used to store the wealth of the surrounding peoples. This led to it
becoming the banking center of Asia and it grew to acquire much valuable land
and controlled the fishing industry of the area. Much as London is able to
thrive as the financial center of the World the temple of Diana was the center
of religious and financial life and thus wealth naturally flowed into it.

The temple was also a center for
the fine arts, essentially a museum where some of the finest statuary and
paintings could be seen. It was also home to a thriving 'religious industry'
catering to the needs to those visiting the temple but also providing images and
shrines of Diana that could be purchased and taken away. It was the silversmiths
of this group[1]
that first raised the alarm as to the damage that the new idolatry opposed
Christian religion was doing to the cult of Diana[2].

The other significant effect of
the temple was on the lawlessness of Ephesus. The Temple of Diana was a
sanctuary. No-one could be taken for any crime whatsoever within a bow-shot of
the temple. The surrounding districts therefore became a haven for criminals of
every shape and form. We should also assume that as Diana was a fertility
goddess that the temple also had a rich trade in prostitution although it was
probably of a more refined and less obvious character than the trade promulgated
by places such as Corinth.

Moving from the tangible it is
interesting to reflect a little upon the nature of the people in Ephesus. The
position of Albert Barnes and it appears reasonable is that the fineness of the
climate and geography, the wealth and the tendency of the temple towards
refinement produced a type of person that was adapted towards ease, indulgence
and possibly even effeminacy. It was not quite the ribald debauchery of Corinth
or the bloody viciousness of Rome but in its' own way it was still utterly
antithetic to the Christian gospel. That said Paul does state he fought wild
beasts there[3]
and whilst there is a tendency to 'metaphor' that notation away Ephesus did have
a 25,000 seat amphitheatre that was used for that form of blood sport. It is
quite possible that Roman refinement was a little gorier than we might consider
today.

In considering the Book of the
Ephesians we should thus be looking for a rich, ancient and proud people. A
people that are used to refinement and ease, not overly philosophical as much
Asian as Greek. Not a particularly militaristic state but one which was used to
diplomacy and negotiation to rise to the top. Above all we are looking at a
people whose prior religion had been state endorsed and sponsored and extremely
profitable. These were people that had to leave behind what they had if they
were to follow the new religion. We know that they did this, at least initially[4]
and the letter should show us how they progressed and continued.